Avot 3:8: Torah and the World

By Rabbi Alan Yuter
Posted Wednesday, August 2, 2006

Rabbi Nehunia the son of the Qanah taught:

Whoever accepts upon himself the yoke of Torah, he is relieved [by others, the community] the yoke of monarchy [the responsibility to lead] and the responsibility to earning a living.

And whoever unburdens himself from the yoke of Torah, the yoke of monarchy and earning a living are placed upon him.

The verbs and prepositions in Hebrew are critical to the understanding of this Mishnah. The society unburdens the Torah scholar from leadership and earning a public livelihood because that person was a national resource. The Gaon of Vilna and Leopold Zunz, one Orthodox and one Reform, were supported because of their ability to generate knowledge. But if one chooses not to live in the sublimity of Torah, one must work, earn a living, and assume, if able, leadership and communal responsibilities.

Torah is a calling and its pristine form, all consuming. If one accepts Torah as a calling, the person becomes a Jewish national resource. If one does not make this choice, one must deal with leadership or lay service. The entire community has a need for Torah, which sanctifies the soul. Often, we confuse the office of Torah with the crown of Torah, of the learned Jew who, be that person a holder of office or not, knows, lives, and embodies Torah. This Torah should not be confused with the conventions of culture, but the ideals commanded by the oral Torah.

Ironically, Torah is called a yoke. A yoke looks like a tool of burden, but gives direction, food, and life. The Torah is that life that God planted within us.

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